Ice cream bonanza: East Bay openings by Three Twins and Mr. Dewie’s

Bittersweet chocolate ice cream cones from San Rafael-based Three Twins which has opened a store on Berkeley’s Fourth Street. Photo: Three Twins/Facebook

In case the news that cult San Francisco ice cream purveyor Humphry Slocombe would be opening a shop in Oakland wasn’t enough to get your tastebuds tingling, we can now report that two more ice cream spots have just arrived in the East Bay.

Three Twins has quietly opened at 1809-A Fourth Street in West Berkeley, in the space formerly occupied by Chocolatier Blue. Three Twins, which was founded in Marin, has four owned-and-operated stores in San Francisco, San Rafael, Larkspur and Napa. This is the third licensed brick-and-mortar Three Twins location, SFO, Santa Monica being the other two. (Tubs of Three Twins can be found in lots of grocery stores, including Berkeley Bowl, Star Grocery, Whole Foods and Safeway.)

The origin story for Three Twins goes that in 2005, before writing the business plan for the company, founding twin Neal Gottlieb was sharing an apartment with his twin brother, Carl, and Carl’s wife, Liz, who is also a twin. The trio dubbed their apartment “Three Twins,” and when it came time to start the company, Neal knew what to call it. The company, which kickstarted its business at the Berkeley farmers market, and uses only organic ingredients, has factories in Petaluma and Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Its new location has ice cream pedigree — before it moved to another Fourth Street location and then eventually closed in 2014, the space was home to soft-serve ice cream maker Sketch.

Meanwhile, over in Emeryville, in the newly remodeled Public Market, another set of brothers, Berkeley natives Ari and Andrew Cohen, have opened their second Mr. Dewie’s Cashew Creamery shop, serving frozen desserts made with almonds and cashews. (They can’t legally call their product ice cream as that must have at least 10% dairy milk fat to bear the title. But the product looks and tastes like ice cream.) Mr. Dewie’s opened its first store at 1116 Solano Ave. in Albany last year.

The brothers came up with the idea for Mr. Dewie’s when Ari Cohen found out he was intolerant to gluten, soy, dairy and many of the additives used in processed foods. He began experimenting with dairy alternatives and eventually came up with the idea of almond milk-based ice creams. Andrew Cohen, who is also lactose intolerant, agreed it was a winner. Given its nut bases, each serving of Mr. Dewie’s contains 6-8 grams of protein.

On the creamery’s first weekend at the revamped Public Market, operating out of a chic converted shipping container, Ari Cohen said business was brisk. The whole market has been given an extensive renovation, with smart branding, spruced up seating areas, a living plant wall and lots of new food purveyors, including Wazwan, We Sushi, Shiba Ramen, Nyum Bai and Oui Oui Macaron. Paradita Eatery will open there next week, serving modern Peruvian street food. Cohen said he’s excited about the ongoing development in the area which should, eventually, create a genuine downtown for Emeryville.